Western cultural relativists flinch from criticism of Muhammad for fear of offence, preventing western Muslims from reviewing their own moral values. She believes that the first victims of Muhammad are the minds of Muslims themselves as they exist in a situation of cognitive dissonance. She considers Muslims in Europe and around the world to fall into three broad categories: the terrorists and the fundamentalists that assist them, the tiny group of reformers that embraces the open society and the large number of undecideds who are caught in a mental vise, the painful contradiction between the harsh tenets of an intolerant religion and the values of the open society.

Hirsi Ali claims that instead of empowering Muslim students through research and training, European universities have become activist centers to further the Palestinian cause. A full transcript of the documentary film Submission is included, the movie that led to the death of Theo van Gogh. There is also an interview with prominent Canadian Muslim reformer Irshad Manji, a chapter on genital mutilation and 10 tips for Muslim women who wish to leave their oppressive circumstances. The author provides a brief history of her early childhood in Somalia and her personal emancipation when she emigrated to the Netherlands and explains why she had to leave Holland for the USA. Hirsi Ali also deals with the clash of cultures in Europe and examines the triangles of power in the Muslim world itself: the triangle of the strong leader, the clergy and the army, and the triangle of apathy, fundamentalism and refugees/emigration. She laments the fact that Muslim women are not listened to and calls for self-examination in the culture. The notion of 'group rights' are detrimental to Muslim women, and without emancipation, the socially disadvantageous position of Muslims will persist. She asks the advocates of the multicultural society to acquaint themselves with the suffering of women who are treated as chattels. She considers this wrongheaded and racism in its purest form, the idea of the 'other' that must be shielded at all costs.

For the same reason, Israel is fiercely condemned because it belongs to the West while the Palestinians get a free pass. Because of the victim culture, those intellectuals refuse to criticize oppressive practices as Muslims are perceived to be victims of the West. In the preface she points out the similarity in attitude towards the Soviets by leftists then and Islamic culture now by the adherents of multiculturalism. In this perceptive work, Ayaan Hirsi Ali explores a major problem of our times with admirable fluency and erudition.

The caged virgin book